(Sacramento, CA ) – Today, Senator Moorlach made the following comments from the Senate Floor in opposition to SB 3 (Leno) which would raise the minimum wage in California.

Senator Moorlach spoke immediately following Democratic Senator Hertzberg’s comments, where Hertzberg asked “what kind of society are we running?” in his support of minimum wage increases.

“What kind of society are we running? It’s a capitalistic society. And we need to honor work. We need to honor the work of those that are creating the jobs; that are paying the taxes that allow us to subsidize the transportation and everything else. And it’s the risk takers, it’s the small business people that have to figure out and do the quantifying and analysis. And they sit down and say how much is it going to cost to do the job of running this small business. Whether they are a franchisee or starting their own professional business, they’ve got to sit down and say, ‘what am I going to have to pay for rent, and what am I paying for utilities, and what am I paying for all the other expenses, and then what am I paying for payroll, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers comp, benefits, all the rest?’

All that math has to be done by someone who is going to take it in the shorts. And they have to subsidize pay increases. It affects the owners take home pay, or that owner has to reduce his workforce or cut something. Because rent is fixed.

I’m thinking of the small businesses. Like my son worked for a Cold Stone. You sit there and kinda analyze how is this owner making it, and is this really worthwhile to do. If we don’t make it worthwhile to do, then we’re going to lose a lot of jobs…People are looking for ways to cut and remove employees, and we have to be careful.

We have to be real careful. With a minimum wage increase, you’re attacking business people that are subsidizing this state and this nation. And, I encourage a no vote.